The NJCAA has got to be hoping, begging, for Snow, Utah, to win the Top of the Mountain Bowl in about three weeks.

Tuesday

Nov 18, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 18, 2008 at 5:00 PM

Because otherwise, a system that has zero credibility is going to have less, if possible.

It's time for the NJCAA to make big changes in football.

If Snow beats Butler Dec. 6 in Salt Lake City, at least there will be an undisputed national champion. Snow is the only scholarship football school that is still undefeated.

But should Butler win, who wins the national championship? Sure Butler would deserve it, being ranked No. 2 right now, and the Top of the Mountain Bowl is considered the national championship game. But the Grizzlies deserved the title last year too when they belittled Snow in the same No. 1-vs.-No. 2 showdown in the Top of the Mountain Bowl, but was unjustly forced to share the national championship with Mississippi Gulf Coast without pollsters getting to vote on it.

If Butler wins, Georgia Military wins the Mississippi Bowl, and Harper, Ill., wins the Valley of the Sun Bowl, you'll have three one-loss teams in the top five coming off bowl wins.

Would Georgia Military be unworthy of being the NJCAA national champion? Or Harper?

You're seeing the problems here.

The biggest problem the NJCAA has right now is a lack of bowl games, but that's a problem that can be fixed easily.

Right now, there were just six bowl games, two of which - the Graphic Edge Bowl and North Star Bowl - have predetermined matchups that were confined to nonscholarship teams.

Starting in 2010, the NJCAA should tell each conference that if it wants a chance at a national championship, it needs to host a minimum of one bowl game. Right now, only two conferences don't have bowl games - the Northeast Football Conference, which includes teams from Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts, plus the Jayhawk Conference.

No bowl game from your conference, your teams can't be ranked higher than No. 3.

Easier said than done, I understand. Bowl games aren't easy to start up on the junior college level. They are expensive to start and to maintain, but junior college football is popular enough in Kansas where it should work. A neutral site is a must, and it should be either in Wichita or Emporia, maybe even Pittsburg or Hays.

Coffeyville gave it the ol' college try with the Dalton Defenders Bowl, but the flood and not having a Kansas team in 2005 hurt the now-defunct game.

For future national championship games, there should be an order of which bowl gets to host them. Say if the Valley of the Sun Bowl in Arizona was the choice this year, then go to the next one listed. If it's the (hopefully future) Kansas bowl, Snow, Utah travels. If it's the Top of the Mountain Bowl, Butler travels.

The next issue to settle is the difference between scholarship conferences like the Jayhawk Conference, and nonscholarship conferences like the Northeast, the Midwest Football Conference (Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota, Michigan) and the Minnesota College Athletic Conference.

Unlike nearly every other NJCAA sport, football is not split into divisions. Every NJCAA team that plays football is competing for one - or one-half in last year's case - national championship. Yet, you rarely see interaction between the nonscholarship teams and scholarship teams.

Split them up and rank the top 10 in each division. Of course, nonscholarship teams can play in the same division with scholarship teams - Georgia Military would - but the lack of games between these schools makes me realize there are already two separate divisions. There's already a nonscholarship national champion.

The North Star Bowl is a prime reason why the NJCAA needs to split into divisions. Two nonscholarship teams - Rochester Community & Technical, Minn., and Lackawanna, Pa. - will play. There was to be a game between scholarship teams. Fort Scott took one slot, but the bowl had a hard time filling the other. Hutchinson was contacted, but understandably was cool to the idea of playing Fort Scott. Then Fort Scott took a bid to the Heart of Texas Bowl. The problem could have been avoided had Hutchinson and Fort Scott gone to Minnesota to play, but not against each other.

Another problem with the bowl/poll system: Navarro, Texas - ranked No. 1 last week - will not play in a bowl after a loss to Blinn, Texas. Yet, a five-loss DuPage, Ill. team will be in the Graphic Edge Bowl.

I expect changes in NJCAA football to happen soon because this system isn't good or fair.

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